Cyberbullying is a top concern for girls

Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2015 finds that cyberbullying is a top concern for girls, while 87% of 11-16 year old girls think they should learn about staying safe online at school.

Cyberbullying is a top concern for girls

"The top concerns for girls aged 13 to 21 are mental health issues, cyberbullying and not being able to get a job....yet girls feel their parents are more concerned about drug use, alcohol and smoking.”

“Almost half (45%) of those aged 11 to 16 report experiencing bullying through social media"

“Although it is less common among younger girls, a third of 7- to 10-year-olds have also experienced cyberbullying on social media (13%).”

And cyberbullying can have a very negative impact

“The main effect of this bullying is to leave the victim feeling isolated and lonely – more than four in five girls aged 11 to 21 who suffered bullying say this (85%), with two in five saying it made them feel like this a lot (44%). Around two in three say the bullying stopped them from speaking out about their views (69%), made them less interested in their school/college work (69%), or stopped them from going out with their friends (66%) – each of these effects were felt more among girls aged 17 upwards. Just under half (49%) say the bullying led to them taking more risks than they usually would.”

“For a significant minority, cyberbullying had more serious consequences. Two in five girls aged 13 plus say that the cyberbullying led them to self-harm to some extent (44%), including those saying it did so ‘a little’, ‘somewhat’ and ‘a lot’ – this rose to one in two young women aged 17 to 21 (49%), with 22% choosing ‘a lot’. One in four 17- to 21-year-olds say the pressure of bullying made them use drugs or alcohol (27%), or pressured them into having sex with someone (24%).”

Girls had strong feelings about the negative impact of pornography

“Around one in four learn about pornography, something that 60% of girls aged 11 to 21 report having seen boys their age viewing on mobile devices. Girls feel very strongly about the negative impact of pornography – they say it gives confusing messages about sexual consent (71%), normalises aggressive or violent behaviour towards women (71%) and promotes damaging views about what sexual relationships should be like (73%).”

“Seven in ten feel the increase in online pornography (70%) contributes to women being treated less fairly than men.”

The report also found that 68% of girls aged 11-16 years think they should learn about pornography at school.